Venezuelan migration complicates the state ‘pocket’

Ecuadornews:

“You do what you can” to attend to Venezuelans who arrive in the country, said Foreign Minister José Valencia. Yesterday, he acknowledged that the unusual migration of citizens of that country is an important burden, especially because of the economic situation the country is going through. “We are making all the effort to the limit of resources,” he said.

Valencia, who appeared before the journalists accompanied by his colleagues from Health, Labor, Inclusion and Transportation, defended the decisions taken by the Government to face this crisis. Including the request for a passport or card apostille to allow entry into the country, which he described as legal and necessary despite criticism from human rights organizations.

The Ecuadorian Government, however, focuses its efforts on a regional response.

The initial hope (and to deal with the most concrete and immediate issues, according to Valencia) is set in the meeting that Ecuador is calling for on September 3 and 4 to 13 countries in the region (including Venezuela), IOM and UNHCR . “The idea is that all the countries that are present can identify the main challenges in every way,” he explained. He mentioned, for example, the crossing of borders, effective identification mechanisms, health, mobilization…

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) have also been invited as observers. The objective is also to mobilize cooperation resources: until now, said Valencia, the greatest effort in economic terms has fallen on the states. The contribution of cooperation, he said, has been “quite reduced”.

“What is coming is a challenge in important economic terms for all the countries of the region, especially for Ecuador,” he added. The local government’s forecast is that, until the end of the year, about one million Venezuelans could enter the country and, of them, about 300,000 could be established here.

Valencia insisted that this meeting aims to establish a response to the most urgent needs, the solution of ‘fund’ to the situation in Venezuela should be discussed in other areas, such as the one convened at the Organization of American States (OAS), in two weeks . For him, the problem of migration is “attributable to the internal situation of Venezuela”, despite what the authorities of that country say. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/migracion-presupuesto-gobiernonacional-fronteras-BN2348131